


Barely Even Friends

by magicalartist



Series: Tales as Old as Time [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 15:25:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3072923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicalartist/pseuds/magicalartist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma wants to make things right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Barely Even Friends

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first part of a several part series. be sure to read them in order, since the first several posts will take place consecutively. 
> 
> this series was inspired by Beauty and The Beast, the song written for the movie. Every time I hear it, I think of Emma and Regina. 
> 
> this work is completely independent of my other work, My Weakness, My Strength. feel free to read them both though :)

“Barely even friends

Then somebody bends

Unexpectedly”

It had been a week since the spell of shattered sight had passed and Gold had been forced from the town. Regina was sitting in her living room with Henry, attempting to play Skyrim with her growing son and he was beating her badly. One half of the screen was his while she held the other half. He was playing as a Nord tank, launching into battle quickly with a massive, gaudy two handed contraption Henry called a Warhammer.  Regina was of course playing as a high elf Mage.  Since Skyrim was single player, they raced through dungeons, seeing who could level up faster, who could make it through the quests and dungeons faster. Henry was good at this game, though he had nearly died multiple times.

Regina cried out in frustration as she yet again ran out of Magika before she had finished off the draugr in front of her. Henry cackled as she desperately tried to drink potions to up her magika again only to discover she had already used the last of them.

Regina cursed her luck under her breath, though Henry heard it and snickered. She paused her game and glanced over at his side of the screen and watched as her son drew his Warhammer and bullcharged four of the draugrs in the same dungeon as her. he was much further along. Regina watched as he quickly made short work of his foes, cleverly using many of the traps in the dungeons against his enemies.

She shook her head smiling, proud that her son fought like a strategist. Though it worried her that he charged in without judging the situation first. He fought the same way his Blonde Birthmother did in real life. She could see Emma in so much of her son, but especially when he was facing imaginary enemies in a game.

He never hesitated, he barged through, preferring to immediately launch into the middle of the danger and action. It had nearly cost him his game life many times, but he always made it through by the skin of his teeth. He burned through potions like water. The only magic he used was healing magic or enchantments on his weapons. He preferred brute force to strategy, stealth or fighting from the shadows.

Emma was the same way. She launched head first into danger, coming up with the plan on the fly, barely making it through but somehow, at the last minute, she would succeed. Henry had inherited those traits, and it worried her. she supposed she should be grateful that Henry had seemed to learn to make good use of what was around him from Regina. Regina was famous for using the traps in the game to pick off her enemies for her. she spotted the traps quickly and easily and was excellent at luring the hostiles into the traps, lessening the work for herself, especially since she preferred to only fight with magic, something that was a commodity in this game. It frustrated her to no end.

She often complained that skyrim’s portrayal of magic was grossly inaccurate, but secretly she was impressed.  When she was a novice magic user, magic was exactly this difficult, this physically taxing. Regina just found it extremely frustrating to be back in the position of the novice magic user. She was far beyond that now. Still, Henry seemed to love sharing this with her, and she could not resist her son’s request to spend time with her, even if she wound up frustrated by the game.

Regina sighed and rejoined the game, now fully aware of all the traps further ahead of her. She grinned as Henry commented on her strategy, “watching me to find out what to expect mom? Couldn’t that be considered cheating?”

“Hardly,” she scoffed, “ I am simply making use of all the resources available to me.”

Henry laughed, his voice deep and rich. His voice was changing. Her little prince was rapidly becoming a man, and she wished fervently to recover the lost time. She shook off the nostalgia and rejoined the game, noticing that Henry had paused his game to watch her now. She quickly sidestepped the draugr and went into sneak, forcing him to pause and look for her. She had a ridiculously high sneak skill, something she had determined would be absolutely necessary to her survival since she was determined to only use magic in this game. She watch her magic return slowly as she backed further away, avoiding a trap wire on the floor of the chamber. Once her magic had fully returned she switched spells and launched fireballs at her opponent, luring him towards the trap she had just missed. The draugr spotted her and charged, not realizing that she was standing on the other side of the trip wire.

The draugr triggered the trap and a large battering ram dropped down, slamming into the draugr full force and launching him across the room in a death sequence. Henry whooped and laughed, high fiving his mother before calling out a warning. Regina’s eyes never left the screen, “ I see him…” she muttered. She launched more fireballs at her new opponents, working her way around the outside of the chamber, trapping her enemies in the middle of a fiery inferno, searching for her in confusion as she dropped them one by one.  She triggered the massive boss in the end chamber and took him down slowly and methodically, Henry occasionally giving her tips and encouragement. It was odd, her son in the role of a teacher, her once again a pupil. Finally, the chamber was clear,  and she approached the word wall and the massive chest filled with goods. She gathered what she could and moved towards the exit. She spotted a hidden chest and went to it, while Henry nearly cursed, “ how did I miss that?!”

She grinned, “ it pays to pay attention Henry, if you aren’t looking, you don’t know what you will miss.”

He shook his admiringly as she recovered what he considered serious loot. She wanted magika potions but was sorely disappointed that there were none in the chest. She sighed and left the magical artifact in the chest. Henry unpaused his game and headed back in the chamber. She glanced at him confused, “ what are you doing?”

“ are you kidding me, there is no way I am leaving that behind! I have to go get it.”

“that’s against the rules Henry. One time through the chamber, remember? No backtracking.”

He shook his head frustrated and left the chamber, “ ugh, I cant believe I have to leave that beauty in there!”

“ it wasn’t that strong of a weapon anyway Henry.”

“ you forget mom, it would be stronger for me because my skills are higher in that area, just like your spells are stronger…”

“ true, well in that case, you seriously missed out. That should teach you to pay attention.”

Just then, the doorbell rang clearly through the house.

Regina glanced at her son puzzled, “ Henry, were we expecting company?”

He shook his head, “ no I don’t think so. I didn’t invite anyone over…”

She shrugged and paused her game, Henry following suit, though he remained on the couch.

Regina stood and made her way to the door, pausing by a mirror to check her appearance. She fluffed her hair and straightened her white button down shirt. Satisfied, she moved on to the door opening it to find the blonde Sheriff standing her doorstep, looking pensive and nervous.

“ Miss Swan,” Regina paused, puzzled, “ what are you doing here?” the two women hadn’t spoken in two days. They had been working on operation mongoose for several days since Henry’s discovery of the Library, but had decided to take the weekend off, Henry was to spend the weekend with Regina.

Emma shook her head slowly, “something has been bothering me, and I should have come here sooner, to make things right, but I was… afraid. But I can’t let this go anymore, I need to clear the air. I just… I cant let what I said, what I did go unaddressed.”

Regina shook her head, confused, “Emma, what on earth are you talking about?”

Emma glanced at her surprised, “you don’t remember? When we were under the curse, I… I said some terrible things to you in the vault, very untrue things.”

Regina recalled every bit of what had happened in the vault. She had known, even under the curse that Emma was baiting her, trying to free herself from the ribbons being used to harness her powers. A small part of her had known exactly what Emma was doing and why. That same part of Regina, the person she has become as a result of Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Robin’s faith in her, it hadn’t vanished, it had been suppressed. That part of her had wanted to help Emma, and so she had urged that part of herself that had been unleashed to rise to the bait, and lash out at Emma like Emma wanted. She had known Emma didn’t mean it.

The only part she had wondered if Emma meant was the part about her parading her relationship with the pirate to hurt Regina since she couldn’t have her happy ending. But she had dismissed it since she was sure Emma didn’t know the truth. The truth about why it hurt so much to see Emma consorting with Captain Guyliner.

“ Emma,” Regina started, her voice soft and gentle.

Emma interrupted her, “Hear me out Regina, please, I need to say this, I need you to hear it.”  She paused, running her fingers through her hair, her eyes on her feet, which nervously fidgeted on Regina’s porch. “ I said it to hurt you, said it to trigger your rage and hatred for me. I didn’t mean any of it, especially about deliberately trying to destroy your happy ending while parading mine in front of you.  I would never do that, I hope you know that. I said what I said to get you to lash out, so I could stop the Ice Queen. That’s the only reason I did it. I wanted to tell you that, I wanted to say I was sorry, that it was all a lie. But I lost the courage. I didn’t know how to say it. Then you acted like everything was fine between us. And I thought maybe you didn’t remember. I was going to just let it go, but I can’t. My words keep replaying in my head, and I just, had to let you know how much I regret it…”

“Emma.” Regina’s tone was strong and firm, yet still gentle. “ I know you didn’t mean it. you said what you had to say to get me to do what you needed me to do. I knew that even then. I may have been in evil queen mode, but I was still there, I knew you were really trying to get me to help you, so I did the only thing I knew to do, lash out like you needed me to. There is nothing to forgive.”

“but what I said, about me and Hook, it was so wrong Regina, and I know it hurt you. I need you to know that. I need you to know that it was a lie.”

Regina glanced at her puzzled, “which part?”

Emma sighed again, heavily. “ all of it. saying he was my happy ending, and that I was deliberately parading it in front of you to hurt you… I ended things with him yesterday. It was easy, you know? having someone who was more into me than I was into him.., but it wasn’t fair, to either of us. Him trying so hard, me settling, just because I didn’t want to be alone."

Regina nodded emphatically, “you deserve so much more Emma. You made the right decision. Captain Guyliner was no good for you. He couldn’t offer you what you want, he cant provide you with what you need because doesn’t know you like…” _I do._ Regina cut herself off in time but Emma’s eyes widened at the implication Regina had made.

They both shifted uncomfortably on the porch. Henry came to the door, his curiosity finally getting the better of him. He grinned widely when he saw his other mother on the porch.

He didn’t miss the awkward silence between the two women but ignored it, giving Emma a bear hug and then giving Regina a pointed look, “mom, can Emma stay and play Skyrim with us? She already has her own character…she can easily catch up with us… she is only one quest behind us.”

Regina shot Emma a surprised look, “you play too?”

Emma grinned, the awkwardness gone, “yeah, Henry got me into the game while we were in New York… we made it a race, since it’s single player. Set up some rules for the gameplay so we could enjoy it together and still compete to an extent.”

Regina should have known. She shook her head laughing as Emma listed off the rules, the same rules she and Henry played by, though she strongly suspected that Henry had taken advantage of the fact that Regina had been distracted and had gone back for the weapon he had missed in the last dungeon.

“Well Miss Swan, would you like to join the party? You are more than welcome to.” Regina pushed the door open all the way, inviting Emma inside. Emma nodded enthusiastically and entered the house. Regina closed the door and locked it, heading back towards the living room but Emma caught her arm and gently pulled her back, enveloping her into a warm but gentle hug.

Regina stiffened at first in surprise but felt herself relax when Emma sighed, “ I wanted to hug you that day, make it right then and there but I got too scared. I should have done it so much sooner Regina. I am sorry for hurting you. I _hate_ hurting you.”

Regina tentatively returned the hug, finding comfort in Emma’s embrace and in her words. “ I know Emma, I trust you, I know you won’t hurt me.” Emma tugged her closer, and Regina rested her cheek against Emma’s shoulder, letting herself relax and simply be held.

“ I am so sorry about Robin, Regina, I cant imagine how much you are hurting right now. I am here for you, I am your friend and I will help you find your happy ending. I am not going anywhere.”

Emma’s arms tightened their hold with those last words, and Regina felt safe, protected… loved. She coughed and pulled out of the hug, avoiding Emma’s eyes, knowing she would see confusion and hurt.

“thank you Emma, it means a lot to have a friend like you.” Regina regained her composure quickly, putting her mask and carefully constructed walls back into place. She met Emma’s gaze and knew her effort was useless. Emma could see right through her walls and mask, seeing the vulnerable woman underneath. Emma stood in Regina’s entryway, evaluating her for a moment before nodding and slipping her own mask into place.

“Moms, are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to come join me?”

Emma laughed at her son’s tone, Regina straightening her spine and gesturing to the living room, “ shall we?”

Emma grinned, “ we shall.”


End file.
